Sundance Documentary ‘A New Kind of Wilderness’ Tracks Family Whose Dream Life Became a Nightmare
variety.comMarta Balaga Norwegian documentary filmmaker Silje Evensmo Jacobsen wanted to follow a family living the dream. Instead, she witnessed them going through a nightmare. “Maria Vatne had this blog called ‘Wild+Free’ and I was fascinated by it.
I discovered it 10 years ago,” the director of “A New Kind of Wilderness” – which has its world premiere Friday at Sundance Film Festival – about the mother of four who, alongside her partner Nik, decided to live on a farm, surrounded by nature. “I called her up, saying I wanted to make a series about it.
It didn’t work out and then she wrote she was sick.” Maria died shortly after. “I was devastated, even though I didn’t really know her.
She was someone I admired, because I also had, and still have, this dream: What if we just decided to reinvent our lives? That’s what Maria and Nik did.” Despite the tragedy, she still decided to film the Payne family, now going through grief.
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